One might wonder why such history is relevant to a discussion about a mastering equalizer. Put simply, the time that Hinton spent at Decca Studios is apparent in his products’ design and sonic footprint. For example, Hinton worked for Decca during the inception of stereo audio. Most of his coworkers at the time were ex-Royal Air Force Radio Operators. This was the beginning of audio production becoming an art form as opposed to the science as which it was then regarded. Hinton’s designs fall into a strange place in that regard -- they’re scientifically musical. Or are they musically scientific?

The Broadhurst Gardens No.3, or BG-3, is a low-distortion, electronically balanced parametric mastering equalizer. Physically, the unit is 2U high and fairly lightweight. On the faceplate, the unit sports 18 Grayhill rotary switches for frequency selection, band gain, and output gain. In addition, one will find switches for a high pass filter at -3dB at 28Hz with a slope of 18dB per octave. Frequency band gain is +/- 2.5dB in 0.5 dB steps while output gain is -5dB/+6dB in 1dB steps.